Garage door operating and locking means



Nov. 15, 1932. E. w. scHUcKMAN l GARAGE DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING MEANS Filed April 27, 193i 4 Sheets-Sheet l .A Nov. 15, 1932. E. w. scHucKMAN GARAGE DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING MEANS 4 sheets-sheet 2 Filed April 27. 1951 @XX/immo www@ Nov.'15, 1932.` E. w. scHUcKMAN GARAGE DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING MEANS Filed April 27, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Nv. 15, 1932. E. w. SCHUCKMAN 11,888,017

GARAGE DOOR OPERATINGVAND LOCKING MEANS Filed April 27, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 wil/neo@ Patented Nov. 15, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT Vorifice Y GARAGE DOOR OTERATING AND LOCKING MEANS Application fIIed April 2,?,

The invention aims primarily to provide a new and improved mechanism effective to` open garage doors when driving toward the garage, effective to close the doors whenthe machine has entered' the garage, later effective to open the doors when the machine is driven toward the doors incidenty to removal, and finally effective to again close the doors after the machineV has left the garage.

In obtaining the above end, mechanism is employed which embodies car-rocked shafts disposed one at the exterior of the garage and the other at the interior thereof. Members which effect door-opening and door-closing T3 are mounted loosely onfthese rock shafts, and another aim of the invention is to provideunique means for connecting the proper mem-- ber with its respective shaft, according to: the direction in which this shaft is rocked: For instance, when the outer shaft is rocked toward the garage door, the door-opening member of said shaft is automatically connected with and actuated by' said' rock shafts, and when the interior rock shaft isV rocked away from the door as the car moves into the garage, th-e door-closing member of this rock shaft is connected with and actuated by the: same. Similarly, when the car leaves the garage, it first rocks the interi-or shaft toward the door and at this time the door-opening member of this shaft is connectedwith and actuated by the same. Then, as the car leaves. the garage, it rocks the exterior shaft away from the door, at which time the door-closing f member of this shaft is connected with and operated by the same. i

Thilo the actual work of opening and closing the doors could be performed by operatively connecting the above-named members 43? with said doors, through the instrumentality of appropriate connecting means, it is preferable thatv such work be carried out by a fluid-actuated cylinder and piston assembly, in which instance, the aforesaid members will per-form. the duty of' controlling the valve means which in turn controls the admission of fluid pressure to and the exhaust of such pressure from the cylinder of the aforesaid asseiIn-blyi Such arrangement is preferred 'i and when it is employed, a further object of 1931. Serial' No. 533,236.

myl invention is to provide novel means for preventing admission of actuating fluid to the cylinder in such manner as to eect `door-I opening, when the garage door'is to remain closed, said means. being brought into play by the automobile when it reaches its final position Within the garage. Thus, as longV asv the machine is in the garage, operation of the exterior rock shaft manually or by driving an,-

other machine' upon it, cannot effect opening 60 of' the garage door.

W'th the foregoing and minor objects in view, the invention resides in the novel subjects matter hereinafter described and claimed, description being accomplished by reference to the accompanying drawings'.

Fig. l is a perspective View with parts Vremoved and in section, showing the. application of the invention.

Figs. 2 and 2 jointly disclose a top plan 70 view, a number of parts being omitted for sake of clearness. Y Y

Fig. 3 isa perspective view partly broken away and in section, showing overhead portions of the door-operating means on a larger scale than in Fig. 1, the cylinder and piston assembly, and the valve means for controlling the admission of fluid pressure to and exhaust of such pressure. from the cylinder, the connection ofthe door operating and lock-releasing cables with the piston rod, being clearly illustrated in this view, together with the operating cables for said valve means.

Fig. 4f is a top plan view, lparts being removed, showing the rock shafts which are located respectively at the exterior and interior of the garage, together with the dooropening and closing members or sheaves on said shafts, the one-way connections between these shafts and members, and the valve- 99 operating cables which are connected with and' actuated by said members.

Figs. 5 and 6 are vertical sectional views 'on the lines 5-5 and 6-6 respectively of Fig'. 4. 95

Fig. 7 is a top plan view showing a sheave box containing sheaves for guiding the valveoperating cables which are actuated by thesheaves on-the rock shafts and one-way connections between said sheaves and shafts. 100

Fig. 8 is a perspective view showing the saine sheave box as illustrated in Fig. 7, together with the cables engaged with the sheaves, and associated parts.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view showing two of the shaft-carried sheaves and the means for establishing the one-way connections between said sheaves and their carrying shafts.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view showing the lower portion of the casing in which the parts shown in Fig. 9, are housed.

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary top plan view showing one of the door-locking devices.

Fig. 12 is a vertical sectional view on line 12-12 of Fig. 11.

Fig. 13 is a detail perspective view showing the lost motion connection between the door shaft and its operating drum.

For. the purpose of giving a clear understanding of the construction herein disclosed, all features which have been shown in the accompanying drawinvs, will be rather speciiically explained. derstood that within the scope of the invention as claimed, numerous variations may be made. To distinguish between parts which are effective when opening the door and parts which eect door closing, I. yhave referred to the former as door-opening7 parts and to the latter as .doorclosing parts, and while a number of these parts in the present disclosurexmerely actuate valve means for the cylinder and piston assembly which performs the actual work of opening and closingthe door, it is to be borne in mind that by ma ing obvious mechanical skill changes, said parts might be made to themselves perform the actual work of opening and closing the door. Moreover, the invention may b-e properly installed to operate doors of various types.

In the accompanying illustration, the door D of the garage G, is formed of four sections 13, 14, 15 and 16, the sections 13 and 16 being carried by vertical rock shafts which are identical and hence both given the number 17. The sections 13 and 14 are hinged to each other in a conventional manner, the same is true of the sections 15 and 16, and the sections 14 and 15 are free of connection with ,each other. These sections 14 and 15 are proor close thedoor, is effected by means of a cylinder and piston assembly 24 mounted Hiwever, it is to be unf overhead in the garage, upon a suitable support 25, the piston rod 26 of said assembly 24 being connected with said drums by cables described below.

rlwo cables have their intermediate portions wound a number of times around the drums 22 respectively, the one end portions 27 of said cables being secured to the front end of the piston rod 26 after passage around guide sheaves 28, while the other end portions 29 of said cables are secured to the rear end of the piston rod 26 after passage around other guide sheaves 30,'the sheaves 28 and 30 being mounted upon the support 25. TvVhen the piston rod 26 is moved rearwardly by the piston 31, it pulls upon the cable portions 27 to rotate the drums 22 in door-opening direction. Similarly, when the rod 26 is moved forwardly, it pulls upon the cable portions 29 to rotate the drums 22 in door-closing direction. Valve means, described below, are provided for controlling the admission of compressed air from a conducting line 32 to the opposite ends of the cylinder 33 of the assembly 24, and for controlling exhaust of air from said cylinder, and car-actuated means are provided for controlling said valves, all of which will be hereinafter fully described.

The line 32 is suitably branched. to lead to opposite ends of the cylinder 33, a door-opening admission valve 34 is provided to control communication between said line and one end of said cylinder, and a door-closing admission valve 35 is employed to control communication between the other end of the cylinder and said line, the two valves 34 and 35 being normally closed. Exhaust valves 36 and 37 are provided for the ends of the cylinder having the admission valves 34 and 35 respectively, and all of said valves 34, 35, 36A and 37 are provided with upstanding operating arms 34, 35', 36 Vand 37, respectively. The doorropening admission valve 34 and the exhaust valve 37 at the opposite end of the cylinder 33, are connected for operation in unison by means of a rod 38 to which the arms 34 and 37 are pivoted, and a spring 39 which connects said rod with the support holds said rod 38 in normal position. Another rod 38 is pivoted to the arms 36 and of the exhaust valve 36 and the doorclosing admission valve 35, respectively, said rod 38 being normally held in one position by a spring 39 corresponding to the spring 39.

A. door-opening cable 40 is connected with the rod 38 after passage around a guide sheave 41, and a door-closing cable 42 is connected with the rod 38. These two cables 40 and 42 extend horizontally to the rear of the garage, are trained over suitably mounted sheaves 43 and depend from said sheaves. As shown most clearly in Fig. 8, cable 40 connects withtwo additional cables or branch will be operated, thereby pulling upon the` cables a and 40', respectively, and cable. 42 connects with two additional or branch cables 42a and 42h, respectively. The cables 40a and 40b and 42El and 42b all pass under suitable sheaves 44 in a sheave box 45, this box being mounted in the rear portion of the garage floor. From, the sheave box 45,. all ofV the cables extend forwardly within appropriate shielding conduits 46. The cables 42a and 40b enter a casing 47 at the exterior of the garage and disposed centrally of the driveway a suitable distance from the garage door. The cables 40a and 42b enter another casing 47a within the rear portion of the garage and embedded in the floor thereof. A car-rocked shaft 48 passes through the casing 47 and a similar shaft 48 passes through the casing 47a, and by means described below, these shafts are effective at proper times to pull upon one or another of the cables 42a, 42", 40a and 40h.

Loose upon the shaft 48 within the casing 47 are a door-opening sheave 49 and a doorclosing sheave 50, sheave 49 being connected with cable 40b while sheave 50 is connected with cable 42a. One-way connections are provided between the sheaves 49 and 50 yand the shaft 48, so that when said shaft isV rockedtoward the garage door, only the sheave 49 cable 40b as the car approaches the garage, said cable 4()b effecting valve setting to cause the assembly 24 to open the door. Similarly, when shaft 48 is rocked away from the garage door as the machine leaves the garage,

only the sheave 50 will be turned, thereby pulling upon the cable 42a to effect valve-setting so that the assembly 24 will close the garage door. yThe one-way connections in question are preferably established in the manner described below, reference being made more particularly to Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 9.

Two disks 51 and 52 are secured on the shaft 48 at the outer sides of the sheaves 49 and 50 respectively, and these sheaves areheld against the hubs of said disks, by a coiled compression spring 53 which surrounds saidv shaft. The sheaves 49 and 50 are formed with arcuate substantially 90o slots 54 and 55 which receive bolts, pins or the like 56 and 57 respectively, projecting rigidly from the disks 5l and 52. When the shaft 48 is rocked toward the garage door, the pin 56 and one end of the slot 54, constitute abutmentswhich co-act in turning the sheave 49 to eect door* opening. During such turning of the shaft, pin 57 merely travels idly in the slot 55. Then shaft 48 is rocked away from the garage door, pin 57 and one end of slotk 55 constitute co-acting abutments to turn the sheave 50 to effect door-closing, pin 56 then moving idly7 in slot 54.

To normally hold the disks 51 and 52 and the shaft 48 in a neutral position, coiled springs 58 are attached Vat one end to said disks-andv atl their other ends to the casing47, andto limit'the rocking of said shaft and disks, the latter are provided with. peripheral stop shoulders 59for co-action with fixed stop studs 60 secured in the casing 47.

The shaft 48 is provided with two loose sheaves 49a and 50a which correspond with the sheaves 49 and 50, sheave 49111A being connected with cable 42b and sheave 50a being connected with cable 40a. The sheaves 49a and 5()a are mounted upon the shaft 48 in the same manner as the sheaves 49 and 50 are mounted upon the shaft 48, and one-way connections identical with those above described between shaft 48 and sheaves 49 and 50, are employed between shaft 48 and sheaves 49* and 50a. Hence, when shaft 48 is rocked' away from the garage door as the machine nears its linal position within the garage, sheave 49a is turned, thereby pulling cable 42b to effect valve-setting so that the assembly 24 will close the doors. When the machine is being driven from the garage however and Shaft 48" is hence rocked toward the door, sheave 50n will be turned to pull upon the cable 40, thereby eiecting valve-setting in a way to cause the assembly 24 to ope-n the door.

When the car stands in the garage, all" parts of lthe door-operating means are in a neutral position lto which they are returned by springs. The springs 39 and 39 move the rods 38 and 38 to the positions at which the admission valves 34 and 35 are closed and the exhaust valves 36 and 37 are also closed. The springs 58 hold the shafts 48 and 48 in their neutral positions, and the various cables 40, 40h, 42a and 42", are yieldably held in their neutral positions by coiled springs 6l shown in Fig. 8. With the entire mechanism thus in readiness for operation, it would be possible to operate the exterior shaft 48- and thus effect opening of the garage door, were it not for the provision of novel means for preventing such an act. This means embodies a cut-off valve 62 in the portion of the line 32 leading to the door-opening admissionV valve 34.j While this valve 62 is normally held open by a spring 63, car-controlled means are provided for closing said valve when the machinereaches its final position within the garage. Hence manipulation of the shaft 48 manually or otherwise cannot nsV cause the assembly 24 to function in such a way as to open the door.

The valve 62 is provided with an operatingl arm 64 connected to one end of t-he cable 65, said cable being trained over suitable sheaves 66l and 67 and extending downwardly toa hinged treadle or the like 68, in the path of one 69 for the door.

even though the door-opening admission valve 34 might be opened by operation of the shaft 4.8.

As an additional safeguard, I provide locks Both of these locks are of the same ,construct-ion and one of them is detailed in Figs. 11 and 121. 70 denotes a vertical shaft mounted in bearings 71, the lower end of said shaft being provided with a hoo-klilre locking arm 72 engageable with a hooklike keeper 73 on the door, a spring 74 being provided for turning said shaft 70 in a direction to inter-engage the parts 72 and 73. A sheave 7 5 is provided on the shaft 70,'and these shea-ves of the two locks 69, are engaged with cables 76 which are connected with the front end of the piston rod 26. When the garage door is closed and the piston rod 26 is moved rearwardly, the cables 76 and sheaves 7 5 turn the shafts 70 and the cable portions 27 also turn the drums 22, but the connections 22a merely idle until the locking arms 72 become disengaged from the keepers 73. Then the connections 22a turn the shafts v17 to open the door.

Assuming that the garage is empty and the door D closed, and that a machine is driven toward the door, the general operation is as follows z--The shaft 48 is rocked toward the door D by the front wheels of the machine, and the one-way connection between said shaft and the sheave 49,'becomes effective to turn the latter, thus pulling upon the cable 40b which in turn pulls upon the cable. 40, causing this cable 40 to move the rod 38 in a direction to open the door-opening admission valve 34 and also open the exhaust valve 37 at the 'opposite end of the cylinder. Compressed air now `enters the front end of the cylinder 33, driving the piston 31 rearwardly and similarly moving the piston rod 26. The initial mov-ement of this rod, pulls upon the cables 76 and releases the locks 69, and the continued movement of said piston rod pulls upon the cable portions 27, causing them to rotate the drums 22 and swing the two door sections to open position. When the front wheels of the machine pass over the shaft 48,

the latter is returned to its Vneutral positionV by the springs 58 and possibly the operating cables for the rod 38 will allow the latter to return to the position at which valve 34 is closed, but this will not effect any movement of the piston 31 and consequently the door will remain open. Nhen the rear wheels of the machine engage the shaft 48, the latter is again rocked toward the door and then returned to normal position. machine enters the garage and its front wheels rock the shaft 48 away from the door, causing the one-way connections between thisY shaft and the sheave 49a to turn the latter, thereby pulling upon the cable 42b which in turn pulls upon the cable 42. This cable 42 moves the rod 38 in a direction to open the They door-closing admission valve 35 and also open the exhaust valve 36. Consequently, compressed air enters the rear en-d of the cylinder 33 from the line 32, moving the piston 31 and its rod 26 again forwardly. This forward movement of the rod 26 pulls upon the cables 29, causing them to rotate the drum 22 in door-closing direction, and when the door is completely closed, the locks 69 become effective. When the car reaches its final position in the garage, one of its front wheels depresses the treadle 68, thereby pulling upon the cable and closing the cut-o valve 62. Hence, even though the shaft 48 at the exterior-of the garage, be operated by hand or otherwise, compressed air from the line 32 cannot be admitted to the front end of the cylinder 33 to effect door-opening.

When the car is to be backed from the garage, its front wheels first clear the treadle 68, allowing the spring 63 to open the valve 62. Then. these wheels rock the shaft 48 toward the door, causing the one-way connection between said shaft and the sheave 50a to turn the latter. Such turning of sheave 50a pulls upon the cable 40a which in turn pulls upon cable 40, thereby effecting movement of therod 38 to open the door-opening admission valve 34 and open the exhaust valv-e 37, with the result that compressed air from the line 32 enters the cylinder 33, forcing the piston 31 and its rods 26 rearwardly. l Such rearward movement pulls upon the cables 76 and releases the locks 69 and pulls upon the cable portions 27 causing them to rotate the drums 22 to open the door. Whenv the car leaves the garage, its wheels rock the shaft 48 away from the door D, with the result that the one-wav connection between said shaft 48 and the sheave 50, turns the latter. This sheave consequentlv pulls upon the cable 42t which in turn pulls the cable 42, thereby moving the rod 38 to a position at which it opens the door-closing admission valve 35 and also opens the exhaust valve 36. Compressed air now enters the rear end of the cylinder 33 from the line 32. forcing the piston 31 and the rod 26 again forwardly, such forward movement pulling upon the cable portions 29 and causing them to rotate the drums 22 1 ating means for said valve means embodying a car-actuated member at the exterior of the garage, a normally open cut-off valve adapted when closed to prevent the actuating fluid from so operating said fluidactuated means as to move it in door-opening direction, and car-actuated means within the garage for closing said cut-off valve when the car has completely entered, whereby said Huid-actuated means cannot be brought into operation by opening said exterior caractuated member.

2. In a garage door operating means, a vehicle-rocked shaft at the exterior of the garage, a second vehicle-rocked shaft at the interior of the garage, a door-opening and a door-closing member loose on the exterior shaft, a door-openingk and a door-closing member loose on .said interior shaft, means for operatively connecting said exterior shaft with its door-opening member when rocked toward the garage door, means for operatively connecting said interior shaft with its door-closing member when rocked away from the door, means for operatively connecting said interior shaft with its dooropening member when rocked toward said door, and means for operatively connecting said exterior shaft with its door-closing member when rocked away from said door; each of said shaft and member connecting means being of one-way form, whereby either shaft will operate only one of the members thereon when rocked in one direction and will operate only the other member when rocked in the other direction.

3. In a garage door-operating means, a

vehicle-rocked shaft at the exterior of theV garage, a second vehicle-rocked shaft at the interior of the garage, a door-opening and a door-closing sheave loose on the exterior shaft, a door-opening and door-closing sheave loose on the interior shaft, a door-opening cable having two branches secured to and l adapted to be pulled by said door-opening sheaves respectively, a door-closing cable having two branches secured to and adapted to be pulled by said door-closing sheaves respectively, means for operatively connecting said exterior shaft with its door-opening sheave when rocked toward the garage door, means for operatively connecting said interior shaft with its door-closing sheave when rocked away from the garage door, means for operatively connecting said interior shaft with its door-opening sheave when rocked toward the door, and means for operatively connecting said exterior shaft with its door-closing sheave when rocked away from the door; each of said shaft and sheave connecting means being of one-way form, whereby each shaft will operate only one of the sheaves thereon when rocked in one direction and will operate only the otherv sheave when rocked in the other direction.

4. A structure as specified in claim 2; together with a cylinder and piston assembly for performing the actual work of opening andclosing the garage door, valve means for controlling admission to and exhaust of pressure from said assembly, and operating connections between saiddoor-opening and doorclosing members and said valve means.

5. A structure as specified in claim 3; together with a cylinder and piston assembly for performing the actual work of opening y'and closing the garage door, valve means for controlling admission to and exhaust of pressure from said assembly, and operating connections between said door-opening and door-closing cables and said valve means.

6. In a garage doory operating means, a vehicle-rocked shaft, two disks having hubs spaced apart and secured to said shaft, two door-controlling members loose on said shaft and disposed between said hubs, a spring surrounding the shaft between said members and holding the latter against said hubs, and co-acting abutments on said disks and members eective to turn one of said members when the shaft is rocked in one direction from a neutral position, and effective to turn the other of said members when said shaft is rocked in the other direction.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

EDWIN W. SCHUCKMAN. 

